I'm not currently using the FM app, but there are a couple of general notification suggestions:

1. I personally only want a new email notification that use a simple symbol in the status bar and on the lock screen on Android and the ability to trigger the flashing light, and nothing else. No sounds, no vibrations, no nothing. For many apps I want no notifications. As long as I have those two options for notifications and the ability to turn the notifications off I am good to go on Android.

Fred....many years ago they were happy to use the forum to get Fastmail up and running.

If they are not going to use this forum why do we have the Testimonials section.....it should be deleted.

I suspect the reason for their relative neglect of the forum in recent years is simply that most of their users don't know about it, and if they did, they still wouldn't want to use it. We old-timers like and use web forums, but younger people, I'm pretty sure, do not. Probably many older people will also avoid it simply out of lack of familiarity with the type of medium. It's an old-timer and/or more tech-savvy person kinda technology. FM are just responding to the way people communicate "nowadays".

Don't know this for sure, but that's my suspicion... so don't slam them too hard for neglecting the forum. It's old tech, and they're trying to do business in the present day.

I strongly suspect that most companies avoid responding on forums, though I also suspect they do have staff that glance at them from time to time. It is often a losing proposition to respond to complaints or questions, which can lead to more complaints and questions, and on and on. If someone has a particular gripe or technical issue they want that person to use the regular customer service/support channels so the issue can be tracked, funneled to the right person, etc. Forums often end up becoming long-winded arguments between various opinionated people (like me) who may or may not know what they are talking about. Can be a huge waste of time for busy professionals trying to do actual work. It is very hard to solicit useful feedback from a forum because you don't know who you are communicating with and whether or not they are legitimate or a troll. On the other hand, I'm not sure companies do much better with focus groups or polling. Hire great people, let them create and improve, and keep them on the cutting edge by giving them time to go to conferences, take trainings, ******** with other great people in the field. Frankly, those of us in the unwashed masses often just get in the way of making great stuff.

It is often a losing proposition to respond to complaints or questions, which can lead to more complaints and questions, and on and on. [....] Forums often end up becoming long-winded arguments between various opinionated people (like me) who may or may not know what they are talking about.

No kidding, really??

Indeed, this medium definitely attracts squeaky wheels. I guess Twitter does too, in its own way, but perhaps the "psychology" of it allows them (FM) to ignore what they want to ignore with less expectation (on the part of the squeakers) of getting a response...

Indeed, this medium definitely attracts squeaky wheels. I guess Twitter does too, in its own way, but perhaps the "psychology" of it allows them (FM) to ignore what they want to ignore with less expectation (on the part of the squeakers) of getting a response...

I've tried commenting in Twitter to various companies a few times and mostly have never received a response of any sort, except the other day from Google of all companies! I made a suggestion about the new Gmail app and they responded and asked me to also use the feedback link from within the app (which I had already done). Mildly surprised. It is easy to think of these giant companies as unapproachable, but there are real people there. Some of the teams working on a particular product are quite small. From my own experiences with FM and POBox.com they do respond if you use the prescribed support and contact methods. I suggest going that route rather than using a forum or Twitter.

I know what you mean! However, I do happen to know some "real" people that work at several of the largest companies, and you would be happy to know they work really hard to make good products. There are just so many constraints on what you can do and how you can do it when millions or even billions of people's systems will be impacted by the tiniest change, and it all has to support a near infinite variety of software/hardware configurations. It's really a miracle that anything works at all.